This invention relates to a portable computer.
It relates particularly to a portable computer which is constructed to be powered by both a removable battery and through a connector which receives power from an external source.
One of the primary considerations in constructing a portable computer is to make the portable computer light enough and small enough in overall size to be adequately and comfortably portable. The weight and size restrictions necessarily limit the components which can be included in the computer and thus the capabilities and performance of the computer.
Since computers are used for so many different functions it becomes virtually impossible to incorporate in one portable computer all of the components which will provide all of the power and all of the capabilities and all of the performance which might be required by any particular use or which might serve all possible users of the computer.
For example, some users might have a particular need for local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) applications while other users might not ever require such capabilities. Some users might require mass storage devices in the form of optical disks or bubble memory, while other users might not need that kind of mass storage capability but instead might find hard disks or floppy disks quite adequate. Some users might require interfaces to certain display devices and interfaces to certain instrumentation interfaces such as IEEE 488, while other users might never need such interfaces. Some users might require an interface to provide a small server capability or an interface to an expansion chassis while other users might require such interfaces only on certain occasions.
Portable computers, because of their desired small size and small overall exterior dimensions, are limited in the space which can be devoted within the interior of the computer for adding expansion cards or components.
Adding external components by way of cabling between the portable computer and some external component, such as, for example, an external hard drive, is also somewhat unsatisfactory because of the restraints the cabling necessarily puts on compactness and portability of the overall apparatus. There is also usually a limit on the number of external devices which can be added at one time by means of external cabling.